


The treasure hunt

by Verhalengrot



Series: Adventures in a fantasy realm [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Gen, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Mythology References, Original Fiction, Original Legends, Original Mythology, Travelling Bard, Treasure Hunting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 06:37:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16236200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verhalengrot/pseuds/Verhalengrot
Summary: A bored nobleman decides to participate in a treasure hunt, but to accomplish the task he'll need someone to assist him. That's when a friend appears and together they will look for this secret treasure.





	The treasure hunt

A young man dressed in the fine clothes generally worn by the noble class was walking through the busy streets of the city Arnheim. His dark brown eyes looked at the people with little interest. These people were all going on with their normal lived and it was boring. He noticed a creature who seemed to resemble a bear more than a human. The two-legged creature had chestnut fur covering it’s body and was dressed in nothing more but a blue loincloth. It carried a leather bag, obviously a messenger of some sorts.

“Looking at the Bardug, Lemitsa?”

The black-haired noble turned around to look at the owner of the voice, his dark-brown eyes met another set of brown eyes, but with a hint of green in them. “Mikhal,” Lemitsa greeted the other young man. “I see you are back in town.” His eyes moved to the lute on Mikhal’s back. “Are you still living off your music?”

“Not only that,” Mikhal said with a cheerful sound in his voice. “I am collecting a bag full of coins so I can ask for the hand of the fair lady Catheryn in marriage.”

Lemitsa nodded and lay a hand on Mikhal’s shoulder. “I will treat you to a drink, my friend. It is good to see you again.”

After Mikhal agreed with a nod of his head they walked to one of the better taverns in the city. It was a tavern he didn’t visit frequently. While the quality of the drinks was good, they came at a price Mikhal was unwilling to pay, as he had a better purpose for his hard earned coins. And the owner didn’t want simple minstrels playing at his establishment to earn a coin or in exchange for a meal. Only the famous ones could play there and Mikhal knew he wasn’t among those yet.

As they sat at a table, waiting for the waitress to bring them the cider Lemitsa had ordered, they talked. Mikhal told Lemitsa what he had done since they had part ways and Lemitsa filled Mikhal in about his life too. Unlike Mikhal, who told passionately about his endeavours, Lemitsa stated in an almost business-like way the most notable of events and kept everything that seemed trivial to himself.

The waitress brought the drinks and the conversation came to a stop. Mikhal thanked her when she placed a glass in front of him, Lemitsa didn’t even look at her. His eyes were focussed on Mikhal’s lute.

“I would say I will give a coin for your thoughts,” Mikhal said with a smile, “but I would rather hold on to it.”

“Would you be interested in a treasure hunt?” Lemitsa asked

“A treasure hunt?”

Lemitsa leaned back in his chair to look at his friend. “Indeed, a treasure hunt. Lady Trialca was bored, so she placed a treasure in a safe hiding place, probably a trinket of some sorts.” He waved the words away, what the actual treasure was didn’t matter. It was the hunt that interested him. “She gave out two clues of the whereabouts,” he continued, “and her servant gives the key to anyone who can solve his riddle. And there is a reward of course, the man who can find her treasure will be paid twelve silver coins.” He smirked when he saw the look in the eyes of his friends. “I thought you would like that. We will share the prize, six coins for you and six for me.”

“Why would you join in this hunt?” Mikhal asked as he reached for his glass. “You are not in need of those silver coins, nor does lady Trialca spark your interest.”

“Boredom,” Lemitsa said with a shrug of his shoulders. “I have nothing better to do and to find a way in is a puzzle that kept me occupied. I do not care for the reward, but it is a challenge and I want to be the one to win in. I have the key and I know where to look, but the final challenge is one I am unable to clear by myself.”

Mikhal drank from his cider and nodded. “I will join you,” he told his friend after swallowing the liquid. “What is the challenge?” After asking the question he lifted the glass to his lips once more.

“Liador guard the entrance.” Lemitsa made an amused sound when he noticed how Mikhal almost choked in his cider and put the glass back on the table while coughing. “I take it you have heard about them?” he inquired with a calm voice as he took his own glass and drank from it.

Mikhal coughed again and nodded to show he knew about them. He knew those monkey-like creatures were deadly, many warriors had been torn to shreds by them. For that reason he wanted to stay away from them as far as he could. If warriors died at their claws, why would a simple bard like him go anywhere near them?

“I found a way to get past them,” Lemitsa continued after drinking, “but I need your help to do so. There is a lullaby that should make them fall asleep.”

A sceptical look came in the eyes of Mikhal and he shook his head. Making them fall asleep with a song seemed too easy. These were deadly creatures, surely their weakness would not be something trivial like that.

“There is no need to look at me like that,” Lemitsa sighed. “I did not come up with this.”

“Are you certain it will work?”

“I am,” Lemitsa said with a confident sound in his voice.

Mikhal drank from his glass as he thought about it and nodded. “Then we will go look for the treasure,” he agreed. “Give me the song and I will learn it. Are the lyrics in our language?”

“There are no lyrics, only a melody,” Lemitsa explained. “I will fend off the Liador until they fall asleep. It should work, but I have not witnessed it myself. Will you join me?”

It only took a nod of his head to accept and Lemitsa slid a piece of paper towards him. Mikhal picked it up and examined at the melody drawn on it. It wasn’t a difficult one, he knew he was be able to memorize it rather quickly.

 

* * *

 

The next day Mikhal and Lemitsa stood in front of a white marble building, the walls were adorned with carvings of mermaids. This was the entrance to the crypt. Lemitsa held the key in his hand, but he examined the carvings with a frown. Mikhal stroke the wood of his lute nervously, but he stopped when he seemed to recall something.

“This is the place where she hid something?” Mikhal asked.

Lemitsa turned his attention to his friend, his frown even more obvious now. “It is. Why do you sound so surprised?”

“It surprises me she managed to hide her trinket in there.” Mikhal muttered as he looked at the door. “Although maybe she used the same song we’re about to use. Or she let a Bardug hide it for her.”

“Why do you say that?” Lemitsa asked

“Liador fear Bardug,” Mikhal said, he seemed genuinely surprised he had to explain that, if Lemitsa had found this song that would put them asleep, the link with the Bardug should have been there to find too.

“I know that,” Lemitsa stated. “What I want to know is how you know that and why you assume lady Trialca needed to go through Liador. I was under the assumption she had brought them here.”

Mikhal shrugged. “I talk with people. I met a man a while ago, he went down here to retrieve the dagger of G’narv and he told me how the Liador reacted to the Bardug with him. Since the Liador were already here when he entered this crypt, I assume they were placed here to guard the dagger.”

“Was the lost dagger of the old Dwarven king here?” Lemitsa asked and he saw how Mikhal nodded to confirm that. “I wish I would have known that...” He shook his head as if he wanted to clear it from that thought, it was irrelevant to the situation at hand. The dagger had been here, but was gone now. There was no reason to dwell on that.

One thought did linger in his mind, if the Liador were already in the crypt before lady Trialca hid her treasure, whatever it was, she must have known a way to get around them too. Which meant she must have read the same things as he had. Maybe she had gotten intrigued with the Liador after reading about them. The strength and ferocity of Liador was well known and trying to fight through a hoard of them would end up in death most of the times, unless the warrior was truly great. He knew for sure the lady would have chosen a non-violent way, the two he knew of were almost laughable simplistic. Perhaps this was a test of knowledge rather than muscle, even if most seemed to assume otherwise and saw it as a test of strength. It would explain why almost none of the other treasure hunters had returned and those that did had been badly injured. Unlike others he had taken the time to read up on Liador.

As he thought about it, Lemitsa looked at the carvings once more. Those carvings were interesting and since his friend seemed to know more about this crypt than he himself, he decided to inquire about that as well. “Tell me, Mikhal,” he said as he gestured to the marble walls. “Do you know what the importance of mermaids is? Are these carvings here as a clue?”

Mikhal looked at the carvings and shrugged once more. “All I know is that the crypt was build a decade ago,” he began explaining. “The noble who build it was supposedly remarried to a mermaid after his first wife died and this is her tomb.” Mikhal turned to look at Lemitsa as he continued his story. “When she got ill she asked to be laid to rest here instead of being returned to the sea, as she chose to be close to her love. There should be a statue of a mermaid where her remains are buried. The man himself was supposed to be laid to rest in this crypt as well, but he was placed in the family crypt in Arnheim instead. It is said that in the night of the blue moon we can hear her sing to her love.”

Lemitsa nodded and opened the door with the key. While it was a nice little legend, it was irrelevant to what they were going to do. He lit a torch and drew his sword. While he did carry one and practice with it, he rarely used it. That was one of the perks of being noble, weaponry was more for show than anything else, but at the same time he was confident in his skills.

With the torch in one hand and a sword in the other, Lemitsa carefully went down the stairs, closely followed by Mikhal. A horrible stench came up from below and Lemitsa’s face contorted with disgust.

“Should I start playing?” Mikhal whispered.

“Focus on descending these steps first,” Lemitsa answered. “Start playing when we reach the end.”

It only took a few steps more before they reached the end of the stairs and the beginning of the corridor. In the corner were the remains of a man, almost unrecognizable. Most likely one of the previous fools who thought they could take on the Liador. A hissing sound came from the darkness and the sound of claws scraping stone quickly approached. Lemitsa held his sword ready and he was about to say something to Mikhal, but he heard the first gentle tones coming from his lute.

The first of the Liador jumped up, but Lemitsa hit it with his torch and it yelped in pain as the flame scorched the fur and skin below it. The scent of burnt fur was an almost pleasant change from the stench. Lemitsa looked at the hissing Liador as the melody filled the corridor. He noticed how the creature sat down and swayed gently from one side to the other on the rhythm of the song. “Unbelievable,” he whispered. While he trusted the book he had gotten the information from, a part of him had doubted it would really work. But it did.

The two friends walked through the corridor, Lemitsa up front with the torch and Mikhal followed while playing the lute. Every time he reached the end of the melody he just started over. As they passed the Liador they noticed most had fallen asleep, but some were still awake and swayed to the music. Mikhal felt uneasy walking here, but so far it seemed it worked. He prayed to the Lady of the Forgotten Song, the patron of the bards, that it would remain that way. He tried to be as silent as he could so nothing would disrupt the melody. The last thing he wanted was to wake the creatures while they were surrounded by them and nowhere near close to the exit. He tried to ignore the stench as much as he could, but the penetrating smell was impossible to ignore.

When the end of the corridor came in sight, they stopped and for a moment Mikhal forgot to play, but a poke from Lemitsa quickly reminded him to continue the melody. A Bardug stood next to a wooden door and he looked at them.

“Only one can enter and claim the treasure,” the Bardug grumbled with a low voice. “There is no sharing.”

“But...” Mikhal began.

“That will be me,” Lemitsa interrupted him and he stepped forward.

“What?” Mikhal whispered to Lemitsa and once again he stopped playing. One of the Liador close to him opened an eye as the music stopped, but when it noticed the Bardug come closer, it walked back until it disappeared in the darkness of the corridor.

“Surely you agree I deserve it more than you,” Lemitsa said as he frowned at Mikhal.

“I risked as much as you did!”

“There was no risk, the song worked,” Lemitsa retorted. “And be honest, I discovered where the treasure is, I managed to get the key to the crypt, I found the melody that would grant us safe access. I kept us safe from the first Liador before they started dozing off. You did not contribute much, Mikhal. I could have taken any musician with me, or a Bardug if there was a willing one in town. If anyone deserves to claim the treasure it is me. I did most of the work and I will not walk away without anything to show for it.”

There was a moment of silence in which the two friends looked at each other. “If you want the honour of claiming the treasure, fine,” Mikhal grumbled finally. “Just remember we are sharing the reward.”

Without answering to that, Lemitsa entered the room, leaving Mikhal with the Bardug in the corridor filled with Liador.

The Bardug beckoned Mikhal. “Come closer, human,” he grumbled to him. “It’s safer close to me.”

As if Mikhal needed more reason to do as he was told, a screech sounded behind him and he quickly went to the Bardug. It seemed the Liador were waking up now that he had stopped playing. He glanced towards the closed door, he would have liked to enter the room as well instead of staying behind here. Even with the Bardug next to him and the lute in his hand he felt like a prey being surrounded by predators.  

 

Lemitsa looked around in the room, he noticed the statue of the mermaid Mikhal had mentioned, but he also noticed a statue of a warrior with the sword held up. Then there was something that didn’t belong there, a young woman sitting in a chair. She was dressed in a bright red dress with a wide skirt and black, curled hair reached just over her shoulders. He recognized her as lady Trialca herself and she leaned on one elbow as she looked at him.

“Where is the treasure?” Lemitsa asked, placing one hand in his side as he frowned at her.

Trialca smiled at him. “In the chair,” she said with a sweet voice. “For finding a way in here you will get the privilege of courting me.” She giggled softly. “I can appreciate a clever man.” She moved to lean on her other elbow and looked at Lemitsa curiously. “Now, do you want to claim the treasure, or accept the reward of silver for finding it?”

The eyebrows of Lemitsa rose, but soon a smile appeared. It seemed they would not be able to share the reward after all. While Mikhal was correct with his assumption he had little interest in the lady, that was before he discovered what elaborate scheme she had put up to find a man to her liking. He knew for sure people had died in the attempt to find the treasure, but lady Trialca seemed unbothered by it. This made him appreciate the lady more than he did before. Not that he agreed with leading decent men to their death, but courting this lady could prove to be an interesting experience and he was easily bored nowadays. With a confident smile on his face Lemitsa walked up to the chair and gently took the hand of lady Trialca. This was a treasure he was willing to claim and he would claim it alone. Lemitsa gave a kiss on her hand and looked at her pleased smile. As far as he was concerned, it was bad luck for Mikhal it turned out this way. The Bardug was there, Mikhal would be safe from the Liador. And since he had done everything but play the song to get them here, he deserved this and Mikhal should be grateful to him for being allowed to join in on an adventure like this.

When Lemitsa and lady Trialca emerged from the room Mikhal looked at them. Judging by the look of disapproval aimed at the lady, Lemitsa assumed the Bardug had filled him in regarding the treasure. Then Mikhal looked at him and he could see the disappointment in his eyes, it was obvious he realized there was no price to share.

“Who is this?” Trialca asked Lemitsa

“I discovered a song that would put the Liador to rest,” he explained. “I needed someone to play it for me.”

Trialca giggled. “Oh,” she said. “You used a commoner to get what you need. I like that.”

Lemitsa could see how Mikhal straightened his back and narrowed his eyes, obviously he didn’t like being used like that, and to hear the lady approve of it.

The Bardug looked at Mikhal. “Will you play? Your song is more effective than their fear for me. It only takes one brave one to come close to any of you, whereas no Liador will be unaffected by your music.”

“Fine,” Mikhal said stiffly. “I will play to get us safely out of this place.”

Just like the first time, the Liador fell asleep as Mikhal played. The group of four made their way out of the crypt.

As soon as everyone was out and the door was closed, Mikhal turned to Lemitsa. “If you will excuse me,” he said to him. “I have to get back to the city. See if I can find a place to sleep and maybe earn a coin in the process. Seeing I wasted most of the day already.” He turned around and started walking away. “Good day,” he said, without looking at any of them.

 

* * *

 

That evening Lemitsa entered a tavern. His eyes moved over the costumers occupying the tables until he found the one he was looking for. Apparently Mikhal was sitting alone at a table with a pint of ale in front of him. Lemitsa walked towards the table.

“Mikhal,” he said when he stood next to him.

“I thought you would be busy courting your reward,” Mikhal said without looking up.

It was obvious Mikhal was hurt by how things had turned out, and Lemitsa couldn’t blame him for that. “I could not foresee this would be the reward,” he explained, “but I found myself intrigued by her.”

“I thought we were friends.”

“We are,” Lemitsa answered as he placed a velvet purse on the table.

Mikhal looked at it and then looked at Lemitsa. “What is that?” he asked.

“Twelve silver coins.” Lemitsa took a free chair and sat down without asking if that was all right. He looked at Mikhal with a serious look in his eyes. “I took you on this treasure hunt with the promise of silver. It is not my intention to leave you deprived of anything. You need this money to marry the woman you love. Please accept this as a token of my appreciation for your assistance and your friendship in general.”

Mikhal looked at Lemitsa with a frown. “What happened to ‘anyone can play that song, I did all the work’? You made it quite clear my contribution in this whole hunt was negligible.”

After a shrug of his shoulders, Lemitsa leaned back in his chair. “That is still true. I did figure everything out and I suppose anyone could learn to play that song. But you were the one I asked to come along, because you are a friend and I trust you and out of everyone I know you deserved that reward.” He leaned forward and placed his arms on the table. “It is true the result was different than anticipated, in the end I choose the opportunity for an interesting relationship over the silver coins. I was entitled to make the decision and I was serious when I said I did most of the work and therefore deserved to claim the prize.” He paused, looking at Mikhal. “However, I do know that was not fair towards you and that is why I brought you this.”

Mikhal was silent as he looked from Lemitsa at the purse. Then he sighed and shook his head. “You will never change. I appreciate the gesture, Lemitsa, but I...”

“Do not dare to turn it down,” Lemitsa warned him.

Mikhal looked at the purse again, he knew he could use the money. “My share was six coins,” he said. “Not twelve.”

“See it as compensation for putting up with me.”

Mikhal still didn’t move to take it. “You know, you could have stood up for me. Or be honest with the lady. You say you did not use me, but you did not contradict her when she assumed you did.”

“Because I am capable of doing that. I did that, just not to you.”

That didn’t come as a surprise at all. “I suppose I should be grateful for that,” Mikhal sighed.

“You are the only commoner I respect.”

Mikhal looked at Lemitsa and showed a small smile. “You probably know as well as I do that by tomorrow I would have forgiven and forgotten and just move on to the next city without thinking about the coins I never got.”

“I know that, you have a good heart. I have always admired that about you and it was not my intention to betray you when I asked you to join me.”

Mikhal nodded a bit. “I have to admit I felt betrayed and belittled, and I have to admit I did not expect to see you here with this purse.” He picked up the mug half-full with ale. “In the end I am happy to see you value our friendship as I do.”

“Then accept these coins as a token of my gratitude,” Lemitsa insisted. “For your assistance. And your friendship. I truly hope you will be able to marry lady Catheryn one day.”

“You and me both, my friend.” Mikhal reached out to take the purse. “Thank you. I do appreciate this.”

“You can stay at my place,” Lemitsa said as he stood up. “There is no need for you to stay in a place like this when you are in this city.”

“Oh well, I...” Mikhal began.

“This was not a request,” Lemitsa interrupted him. “Pay for your beverage and come with me.”

Mikhal sighed, but couldn’t stop a smile from forming. Perhaps Lemitsa was a conceited noble, but in his own way he had his heart at the right place.

He went with Lemitsa to the mansion of his family and spent the night there. After a decent breakfast he went on his way again, towards new adventures.


End file.
